CLEVELAND — Ohio’s ascent to the Mid-American Conference Tournament was of a mostly straight and upward trajectory — its only changes in direction stemming from a pair of regular season losses against Akron.
The Bobcats’ road to the MAC title game, however, was a sporadic one featuring ups and downs aplenty.
After leading by as many as 19 in the first half, No. 2 Ohio (24-8, 15-2 MAC) saw its lead shrink to as few as two after the break before it staved off No. 3 Western Michigan (20-12, 10-6 MAC) in the game’s final minutes on its way to a 74-63 win.
The Bobcats shot only 37 percent in the second half, but benefitted from big plays when they needed them most to keep the ball rolling toward the conference championship.
As anyone could have predicted, the catalyst for Ohio’s win was senior guard D.J. Cooper.
He had a game-high 21 points and 10 assists — eight of which came in the first half — and hit four 3-pointers.
The final one came with 10:04 remaining in the second half when the court seemed to be tilted downhill toward Ohio’s basket. The Bobcats led by only two at the time.
But it wasn’t anything other than routine for Cooper — a notion teammate Walter Offutt, a redshirt senior guard who has been by his side for much of his MAC Tournament heroics, recognized.
“Seniors step up and make big-time plays,” he said. “That’s what he’s known for in the past four years.”
It wasn’t an individual effort that allowed Ohio to navigate the rigors of late-game play. Ohio coach Jim Christian pointed to the team’s cohesiveness as the main reason it could combat the Broncos’ comeback.
“As they made runs, we stayed together,” Christian said. “Every timeout, every huddle, there was no panic. Earlier in the year when teams would make runs like that we would kind of come apart.”
Western Michigan coach Steve Hawkins faced the same challenge and said he set the halftime goal of cutting Ohio’s lead to 10 by the game’s 10-minute mark.
The Broncos did so, but couldn’t make the final push Hawkins hoped for during the break.
Still, their late-game change of pace could be attributed much in part to an improved shooting effort when compared to the first half.
They converted 55 percent of their attempts from the floor.
“Out best defense was good offense, with not turning the ball over,” Western Michigan senior forward Nate Hutcheson said.
Ohio senior forward Reggie Keely limited senior center Shayne Whittington’s offensive influence, as he scored only six points and had a pair of offensive boards.
Christian said Keely’s first half performance was his best of the season.
“He made Whittington work hard for every catch, he kept him off the backboard, finished around the basket (and) ran the floor very well,” Christian said.
The Broncos’ second half comeback was spurred by the play of freshman forward Darius Paul, the MAC’s freshman of the year.
Paul, who was outfitted with an IV bag heading into the game because of food poisoning, picked up a pair of fouls within the game’s first four minutes and was limited to only four points in eight first half minutes.
He surged back after the break to finish alongside Hutcheson with a team-high 16 points, on 6-for-7 shooting.
The Bobcats were able to equal the Broncos’ rebounding effort of seven offensive and 22 defensive boards for 10 second chance points apiece.
That’s an encouraging mark for Christian and company, who will be butting heads with Akron, which is far and away the MAC’s premier rebounding team, Saturday.
“I think they have the best mid-major frontcourt in the country,” Christian said.
Demetrius Treadwell, a junior forward, and Zeke Marshall, a senior center, each recorded double-doubles Friday against Kent State — reminiscent of a similar performance in their second regular season game against Ohio on Feb. 2.
Christian said stopping the No. 1 Zips (25-6, 14-2 MAC), which won the teams’ regular season meetings by 14 and seven points, respectively, will come down not to trumping their interior duo, but shutting down the rest of their offensive pieces.
It’s easy for the Bobcats to recall freshman forward Jake Kretzer’s 19-point outing on Feb. 27 at The Convo or freshman position mate Reggie McAdams’ 11 earlier in the year.
“It’s not one guy going for 50 and getting us,” Christian said. “We have to neutralize the other components about them and not let them have career nights as those guys have good nights.”
The Bobcats’ conference championship matchup with Akron is their third in fourth years, as the Zips have made it to the MAC’s final frontier in each of the past seven seasons.
Cooper said he wouldn’t want it any other way for his last conference game.
“It’s only right,” he said. “We lost to them twice (and) we feel like we gave the game away both times — we had pretty large leads on them. We have to come out and play. This is for the championship.”
jr992810@ohiou.edu
